40B Box O' Rocks

[Acielot]

It's still a biotope but some corals are taking the place of coral that is not available (acan lords for rough star coral for example) . Only growth form is a restriction. The overall appearance has to be the same or similar but color can be wild.

 

I have all the coral from the 10 gallon but things like the duncans, that don't belong in the biotope, won't be part of the scape.

[Acielot]

Test results from today before my first dose of nualgi.

 

Alk: 10

pH: 7.8

NO2: 0

NO3: 1

Sg: 1.028

 

I still have to order my own test kits for mag and phosphate.

 

Some algae/slime is building up on the rocks but the turbo is making quick work of it. I guess I'll need one or two more to clean up the rocks

[Acielot]

So I've realized that a pH of 7.8 is not ideal. That test was taken at the end of the day right before lights out. Which means that it gets lower overnight.

 

I'm not going to chase numbers but i do want to raise it a bit. I think that may explain my overall slow growth from the stonies.

[Acielot]

Screw the biotope!!! It isn't worth it anymore. I don't like restrictions - self imposed ones even less. I just want to enjoy coral and fish for the time being. The tank will still be Caribbean in form but there is no longer a restriction against non-Caribbean denizens.

[frankdontsurf]

I'm having the same pH issue. Is there enough fresh air in your house? I'm using kalkwasser, keeps my pH from dropping too low at night so at least its a stable 7.8 meh. Youre looking good otherwise dude

[Acielot]

I have the windows open quite often. So I doubt it's that and I'm planing on starting a dosing regimen of kalk and mag to perhaps raise it and keep it stable.

 

 

Thanks

[Acielot]

Finally pulled another the trigger on another big purchase!! I'm going to Cali in a month and I won't be visiting my home state again for a few years so I decided to get a Canon T3i. I want really clean pics so this should do the trick. After the trip I'll have to save up for a decent macro lense for coral pics.

[Acielot]

Today has been terrible. It started off just unimpressive but it was determined to screw with me to its fullest potential. (that's not a challenge)

• First I woke up to a very unimpressive lunar eclipse. Snapped a few pics then I went to sleep again.
• I wake up and go to school, Eh it was just school again. But I was feeling very uneasy and sort of anxious for some reason.
• It rained very heavily so I wasn't able to tend my garden or anything outside for that matter.
• I get ready to go to work and not even 5 minutes into my commute I rear-end someone because the car in front of them missed their turn and stopped dead in the middle of the road, I saw this happen but my breaks didn't stop me from sliding into their bumper. The other car, a van ,wasn't damaged too badly, but my left headlight was completely destroyed as well as the fender. My car isn't drivable anymore but it isn't totaled either. The deductible is $250 and for rear-ending them snagged me a careless driving ticket and a $160 fine.

The other driver wasn't upset or mad but I was devastated. It seems that I can't go any longer than a few months of smooth sailing before something comes along to wreck my no worries high. I'm going to develop serious anxiety issues if this trend keeps going.

• I also unfortunately found out today also that 2 people I was close to have passed away. My close friends uncle as well as one of my teachers from high school. The uncle was in poor health and was expected to pass soon but he passed away earlier today. My teacher was fighting cancer for a 3rd time and was seemingly healthy with the exception of the cancer of course but his health unexpectedly declined in the last few days and he passed away just a couple of hours ago.

Life is a cruel mistress but it wouldn't be worth living if you didn't have the good and the bad to give you some perspective.

[frankdontsurf]

Sorry to hear about your loss James. If it weren't for the lows we wouldn't be aware of the highs.

 

Keep your head up, don't let this bring yours down.

[Acielot]

Thanks Frank. I'll be headed to California in a few weeks so hopefully it goes smoothly. I couldn't deal with anymore bad news at this point.

 

In tank related news:

Most of the coral is now glued down or starting to grow onto the main rockwork.

 

The bleached ivory bush is recovering quickly an the healthy colonies are encrusting the discs nicely.

 

I've snapped some pics with the dslr but they are not quite good enough to post yet.

[Acielot]

http://m.wesh.com/news/Pine-Ridge-High-teacher-loses-battle-with-cancer/25519222?utm_campaign=wesh+2+news&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=hootsuite

:'(

[Acielot]

Dallas is a lot less miserable than I remember it being when I last stopped by 10 years ago.

 

Another flight and I'll be in Sacramento

[Acielot]

Just stopped at a Sw store in my old hometown... killer prices on their coral.

 

I mean colonies of awesome coral for cheap. I am seriously debating picking up a bunch of stuff and shipping it home. Sexy rainbow meats deepwater acros, highend zoas, I'm drooling. Even including shipping it is a steal for most of it.

[metrokat]

You found your avatar.

Also, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, hang in there. Deep breaths.

[Acielot]

You found your avatar.

Also, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, hang in there. Deep breaths.

Thanks Kat. Yes I did finally. I had a copy on my old phones sd chip. So voila!

 

 

Just landed in Dallas/Fort Worth. Last time that I was here my gates were right next to each other. This time I had take a 10 minute tram ride. I didn't realize how big this airport was.

[Acielot]

I ordered from rare reef again. This time I was not too impressed. I ordered 2 zoa frags and they barely look like what they did in their picture. I also already have both color variants so I bought an extra frag.

 

I did order a dragon soul favia and a yellow acan echinata. Those more than made up for the zoas because they are so vibrant. Overall I paid less than lfs prices but I didn't like that the zoas looked so different compared to the last time I ordered.

[Acielot]

Params are all looking good but still not getting good growth on anything. Since the last update the red digi has been killed by the lta as well as the ivory bush corals and duncan. Either the glue came loose or one of the urchins/snails pushed it loose either way they ended up in tentacles all day until I found them.

 

 

#photodump # enjoy

 

6 of the 7 black urchins that HH on the liverock. Not sure if they came from the Gulf Live Rock or the Kp Live Rock.

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Rock anemone

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FTS as of today.

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Actinic of right side

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Sponge and tunicate cluster with some feather dusters. A ton of anemones (not aiptasia although they do look similar)

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/DPP_00072_zps2dafad54.jpg.html'>

 

The newest acro from a few days ago.

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The xenia finally making a comeback after being annihilated by the urchins

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One of the only things growing in this tank.

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My very first purchase that came with only about 20 polyps is now to about 80+

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Top right of the rockscape

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Half dollar sized polyclad flatworm. I must admit this thing was pretty cool.

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My zoa garden beginning to happen!

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Actinic shot of the new acro.

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Screwing around on the 4th of July with some long exposure shots.

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/DPP_00055_zpsadf12a6d.jpg.html'>

[Acielot]

I've ruled out alk swings as the force behind the general lack of growth and tissue recession. Testing every 4 hours and the results only deviated .1 from the begging of the day to the end.

 

Perhaps weekly 5 gallon WC just aren't cutting it. I did 16 gallons last night with IORC so hopefully things turn around quickly for the better.

 

Also I can't get macro to grow either. It just slowly shrinks away.

[Acielot]

Been a while since I updated. For the most part I haven't been doing much things with the tank. Just trying to wait for it to mature a bit more before trying to fix things.

 

• The trachy is totally dead as of today. A few weeks ago it somehow had it's mouth damaged and it slowly went downhill from there. The indo scoly is still doing great and growing so I have definitely ruled out alk swings.
• My acans were slowly loosing heads one at a time, seemingly overnight. No clue as to the culprit there with the exception of the decorator crab although he is already decked out with sponge and zoas.
• The pencil urchins finally got a taste of the softies and had started to decimate all the soft corals. They've been sumped.
• The mandarin is still eating and putting on some weight. His dorsal fin is still gimpy and I'll doubt he'll ever recover but he can't flare his dorsal fin. So much for that photo op.

Now for pics.

My new Tricolor Valida. Still browned out from switching tanks but the purple tips are quickly coming back.

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/AcroTricolor_zps86799955.jpg.html'>

 

The golden maxima clam.Maybe over an 1" long. It's still happy as a clam and reacts to light and the fish. All I can assume is that it is doing well.

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/Clam_zpse2d6e8f6.jpg.html'>

 

Whats left of the zoa garden. I've been mounting most of the zoas to the rockwork now and these are either duplicates or backup frags.

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/Zoagarden_zpsd3ba94e9.jpg.html'>

 

My second largest colony now. Just under 100 polyps last I counted. They are stunning under the blue light.

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/Zoacolony_zps64e9d4b3.jpg.html'>

 

A small full grown snake that we found in the house A florida orange ringneck snake...

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/Culebra_zpsdda1952b.jpg.html'>

[Acielot]

I've been doing some intense rescaping and more frequent and larger water changes. Problem is I'm not seeing any benefits from this new regiment. I've been at it for 2 months maybe and no changes yet except that everything is generally fluffier more often.

 

The new scape should be ready in a week or two. Lots of arches and caves if it says in one piece.

 

My bluehead wrasse is finally changing to its terminal phase. It is getting a nice blue hue around its face and the black/white stripes are really defined.

 

Mandarin goby is still going strong at 2 months now. He has some blotches of white around his face but they seem to be stings or abrasions. He's still not a fatty but his belly isn't pinched either

 

Clowns still have not spawned but I suppose they are not ready yet because of the recent re-arrangements.

[metrokat]

Holy cow, you look like you posed that snake for the photo, where did you find it!!!!

Good to see an update from you James. If you decide to frag the blue Zoas, please PM me.

[Acielot]

Holy cow, you look like you posed that snake for the photo, where did you find it!!!!Good to see an update from you James. If you decide to frag the blue Zoas, please PM me.

I finagled the snake a bit he was in a bucket.

 

The blue/orange in the last pic? They are a bit more purple than blue but I have plenty.

 

I'll post up some pics tomorrow after coralcon of everything

[Acielot]

If you decide to frag the blue Zoas, please PM me.

I know that the Katropora has a high demand but if you would be up for a trade I think we could work something out easily

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The tricolor valida when I first got it and now 2 months later. There has been a tiny amount of growth and obviously it has gotten a bit more color.

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The indo scoly still doing well. It is growing but for some reason only on the underside around the edges with a nice green growth edge.

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/Letter11_zpsa66d2d4c.jpg.html'>

 

My new galaxea. It has already attacked my smoothskin acro and dealt some damage. Still a cool coral otherwise

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Some old zoas that I cannot get to grow for the life of me.

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A melted ice cream acan echinata that has started to do some appreciable growing. Its not very noticeable but it is getting some yellow and teal streaks showing up in the edges.

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Next gens zoas. They have grown a ton but they still havent jumped off the frag

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Not all xenia is evil. This stuff was almost eradicated by the urchins. It hasn't grown back quickly but its much bigger now.

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Oh yeah my new BTA a sweet pink/green with a slight hint of yellow

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The hidden cup coral still alive and kicking. There are new heads in the center but you cannot see them when the larger heads are out.

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My poor urchin that was cannibalized. Hes recovering in the display whille the others remain banished to the sump.

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Seduction/Agave Polyp now has a baby polyp forming.

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Cataclysms zoas starting to take off.

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Some of the original blue tubbs colony

http://s1311.photobucket.com/user/jamesb2012/media/Letter25_zps722e811e.jpg.html'>

[metrokat]

I know that the Katropora has a high demand but if you would be up for a trade I think we could work something out easily

That would be good, I'll ping you when it can be fragged again.

[Acielot]

Picked up a large mini colony of a blue/green acro(reefer direct) a frag of a blue smoothskin(coastal) and an elegance coral (A-Z) All from coralcon.

 

I didn't get to see Claya. I guess she was looking around because only Aly was at the booth when I came by. :'(

 

Hobe sound frags and reef gardener had some of the nicest stuff collectively. Tons of eye candy between them.

 

Josh had tons of sweet zoas but the ones that caught my eye were all way out of my price range.